Opinion
& CommentDon't Be Conspicuousby Yisroel Spiegel

A disgusting scheme hatched by extreme rightists, to throw
the head of a dovor acher (i.e. pig) into the
courtyard of the Temple Mount for the purpose of renewed
incitement of the Moslem world against Israel, takes us back,
again and again, to the painful subject of those circles who
make allowances for themselves to incite the nations without
taking into account the terrible danger of increasing
antisemitism and compounding gentile hatred towards us, which
is immense as it already stands.

The question does not apply only to those two or three people
who were arrested upon the above suspicion, a loathsome,
offensive idea in itself which, if it was really their
intention, deserves full condemnation. But an added dimension
is the fact that it `also' involved the Har Habayis; how can
a Jew possibly conceive such an abhorrent idea to begin with?
The gemora in Sotah 49b tells that when the pig
of the enemy [which was raised in a basket in exchange for a
basket full of gold coins -- rather than the animal intended
for sacrifice] reached half the height of the Temple wall and
impaled its hoofs in it, the entire Holy Land within the
radius of four hundred parses quaked in horror. Rashi
there comments, "It was shaken due to the wrath of the King,
Whose honor was thus violated."

This matter must be interpreted with far greater
implications. The very notion of the extreme rightists, who
persistently, stubbornly and fanatically insist on ascending
the Har Habayis for the sake of `prayer,' in the name of `the
right to pray,' is altogether misguided and benighted and
utterly wrong. They are fully cognizant that all halachic
authorities categorically forbid it, and are no less aware
that this very issue creates a blatant, extremely dangerous
incitement of the Moslem world which numbers in the hundreds
of millions of believers, whereas we stand in the age old
threat of existence, of "And I am few in number, and [if]
they all gather up against me and smite me, I and my
household will be destroyed" (Bereishis 34:30).

The history of the past century in Eretz Yisroel teaches us
that more than a few incidents, pogroms, riots and wars were
instigated through irresponsible acts of fanatic elements who
were influenced by the various visionaries of a Jewish
utopian future and who sought to hasten this promise with
might, and indulged in very dangerous activities to bring
this about. They staged inciting demonstrations that fanned
the hatred of the Arabs towards the Jewish settlers in their
midst, were not deterred by all the warnings directed at them
by our Torah leaders, and frequently created the very climate
for terrible massacres.

*

Jewish outlook throughout history has been to roundly condemn
all such attempts to rebel against the heavenly decreed role
of golus. Rabbenu Bechaye writes in Vayishlach:
"And thus we must follow the ways of our ancestors and
prepare ourselves to greet them with gift- offerings and
muted speech and prayer before Hashem, but war is no option,
as it is written, `I have forsworn you, daughters of
Jerusalem. . .' not to incite the nations through war." But
to our deep dismay, there exist some circles, which sadly
also number shomrei mitzvos in their ranks, who
believe that since a Jewish state already exists, we have
reached a stage where everything is permissible and
sanctioned, and one may take any measures that strike our
fancy.

These people became intoxicated with power some thirty years
ago, when the commander of the paratroop division announced
through his two-way radio that "Har Habayis is in our hands."
To this very day, they refuse to accept this on any other
basis except its face value. They fail to admit that any
change in the status of the churban habayis, of the
decree of "the nations have invaded Your heritage," is not
dependent directly upon us [namely, our military might]. On
the most bitter day of the year, on the 9th of Av, when we
lament both of the Destructions, we recite the prayer of
Nachem, which is unique to this day alone, and say,
"For You, Hashem, ignited it with fire, and with fire will
You rebuild it in the future, as it is written, `And I will
be for her, declares Hashem, a surrounding wall of fire, and
I will dwell within it in honor.'"

We have learned from all of our sages throughout the ages
that the ultimate redemption lies within our power only in
the spiritual sense. It depends upon our repentance, upon our
full observance of all the commandments. Yaakov Ovinu's
advice in this parsha serves as a pivotal peg for the
redemption even before he and his sons descend to Egypt to
fulfill the heavenly decree of, "For your seed will be aliens
in a land not theirs."

The counsel of our sage Patriarch was to send "Yehuda on
ahead." Rashi explains to what end: "To establish a house of
study." Yaakov never told his sons to rebel, to rise up, for
the house of study, itself, was to serve as their safeguard,
their guarantee that the Jewish people would survive, that a
remnant would endure to be redeemed. But the actual process
remained in the sphere of Hashem: "I am Hashem, I am He and
not a messenger . . . I am He and [there is] none other," as
we state in the Pesach Haggadah.

Hashem promises that He will redeem us even from this last
exile in which we find ourselves now. We have no need for
those self-styled `loyalists of Har Habayis' or other
delirious extremists with their wild notions, of the kind
that are being exposed these days. Hashem wants and begs us
to remain Jews steeped in Torah, keeping its commandments,
for this is our ticket to redemption. Or, if you will, this
is the only way that we can survive to see the redemption.
The one and only way that we can hasten the Redemption is
through "Today -- if you heed His voice." This is the
necessary element and the only element that will be
privileged to live to see that redemption.

*

"Would that you had abandoned Me, but remained true to My
teachings -- for the light of the Torah would have restored
you to the good" (Yerushalmi, Chagigah 1:7). This
unique saying provides a critique of sorts for a topsy-turvy
world which we witness by those various `premature hasteners
of the Redemption,' who have shunted aside the prime formula
of `keeping My Torah.' They seem to feel that they are
`helping' Hashem; in their blind stupidity, they seem to
think that He needs a push in the right direction by man -- a
creature who is here today, buried tomorrow -- to get things
moving.

Hashem explicitly declares, "Would that they had abandoned Me
. . ." Let Me be, leave these matters up to Me; I am wholly
capable of redeeming my people. "I am First and I am Last."
You tend to your own responsibilities and go submerse
yourselves in "keeping My Torah." Bring about that situation
where the light within the Torah will effect a mass return of
the Jewish people to its source, for then the redemption will
surely come, "If they merit it -- I will hasten its
coming."

Not only is that despicable act plotted by the fanatic
rightists forbidden, but all forms of demonstration and
conspicuousness are equally condemned. All unnecessary acts
of incitement, of attack, of zealous rallying to this grave
or that holy site which might possibly slip out of the
conquering control of Zahal are superfluous when, at the very
same time, the ancient tombs of our people are being blithely
violated within our own limits proper and none of these
zealots utter a peep of protest or proclaim prayer sessions,
as their position on the subject would warrant. Indeed, no
desecration of Torah values throughout Eretz Yisroel moves
them or interests them in the least. Our traditional values
in general seem not to be of their concern outside of their
own grinding axes.

"And Yaakov said to his sons: Why must you be conspicuous?"
(Bereishis 42:1). Rashi quotes Taanis 10: "Why
must you show yourselves before Yishmoel and the sons of
Eisov as if you are satiated?" Maran Hagaon R' Elchonon
Wassermann Hy'd, notes: "This is a clear-cut warning
not to provide the nations of the world with an opportunity
to see us everywhere and to talk about us at every chance.
The less they think and talk about us, the better our fate.
The only time that we must be adamant as stone and not cede
as much as a hair is when they pass decrees against keeping
mitzvos" (Ikvesa deMeshicha, p. 34).